Samaritan
by Kisses Reflect
Summary: Short encounter between Percy and a sweet little lost boy. Canon crossover type. Timeline is exactly in the order of publishing of respective first books in PJatO and HP series. Set in 2008, I guess.


**Disclaimer: I have no rights to the Percy Jackson or Harry Potter series. Rick Riordan and JK Rowling have given a small liberty for us to use their characters unofficially on this site and that is all it is. Fan-fiction.**

**.**

Annabeth would not let him off the hook this time. Percy was quite sure of that. They hadn't been able to meet up much during the past 2 weeks when she was holed up at her boarding school in California and he was in Goode in New York. So when they could get a slightly long weekend off, they'd plan to meet up either at LA or NY.

And he was about twenty minutes late.

But truth was, it wasn't even his fault. It had nothing to do with the impromptu monster attacking him from behind, intent on dismembering him, but he had a solid good reason of why he had been delayed.

It was because he was a sucker for tiny kids with teary faces.

Literally. Percy had left his house, planning to surprise his girlfriend of one and a half months by being early at their usual McDonalds, when he caught a small silhouette, huddled at the edge of an alley way beside his apartment building.

A little boy was covering beside a large set of trash cans, sniffling and wiping his face on the sleeve of his shirt. He couldn't have been older than five. He had dirty black hair and wet dark eyes. He had wrapped his arms around his knees making him smaller than he his size and he had such a lost, sad look on his face that Percy's heart went out to him.

How could anyone abandon a small child like this? It was illegal, right?

He knew Annabeth would have probably reached their date spot, but Percy couldn't turn away from the boy.

Keeping a palm on his pocket where Riptide rested in pen form, Percy walked slowly over to the child.

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Annabeth's said in his mind that it could be a trap. If it was, the child was the best bait. Anybody would have felt incredibly sorry for him.

"Hey there, kid." Percy said in a low voice. The boy flinched a bit and scurried backwards from Percy.

"No, no, it's alright. I won't hurt you. Are you lost?"

The answer to that was pretty obvious, but it was better to start out slow. The boy had worn not too shabby clothes. In fact, if they hadn't been so dirty, Percy could've bet that the boy was from a well to do family. So it was probable that he was lost and not abandoned.

The child didn't say anything. He watched Percy warily and silently.

"Um, okay, then. Is someone coming to pick you up? Are you waiting for somebody?"

The child stayed quiet for a while before answering in a soft voice, "My Mummy."

Percy nodded, giving a small child, but still keeping a distance. He kneeled on the ground. "Did she leave you here?"

The boy shook his head. Percy felt a bit relieved.

"I wanted to see the birds, but they flew away so I ran but they went so high I went up with them but then Mummy started screaming and I fell but I didn't get hurt, but then I came here and it smells and I want my Daddy and Mummy and Albie and Lily."

Percy tried to keep up with the boy's words, but he said it so fast along with short and quick intake of breaths that only half the message could be garnered.

"Birds and mom and flying? You fell..? But.. uh, you ended up here?"

The boy nodded, sticking his thumb in his mouth, unconsciously sucking it. Percy stared for a second before looking away. Right. Lost kid.

"Do.. do you remember where you were before?" Percy asked slowly.

The boy thought deeply, staring at the ground. Then he answered, "I was with Mummy. And then Daddy went to get another ice-cream cone for Albie, because he's silly and he dropped his first one and he was crying and Lily woked up because Albie was crying and Mummy was getting a headache and Daddy told me to stay with Mummy and Lily but I wanted to see the birds."

".. Right." Percy said, feeling aimless. Somewhere with ice creams and birds. Outdoors, may be an ice cream van. Family place. Or family park?

"Where you at the Central Park?" Percy asked. The boy shrugged. He had stopped crying, probably because he wasn't alone. He was still sucking his thumb though. The demigod found it slightly endearing.

"Central Park's a huge place with lots of trees and space for people to have picnics." Percy said, leaning against the soot covered brick walls. The boy's eyes lit up.

"Picnic! We was having a picnic! But Albie wanted an ice-cream cone, so it's all his fault!"

Percy nodded as if he could relate to the situation. He didn't know what kind of name was Albie, but he was probably the kid's brother and Lily was his sister. Okay, family of five – reduced to four, temporarily – in Central Park having a picnic on a bright evening.

That probably narrowed it down to about a hundred families.

"Tell you what? Let's go to the park. It's only a block from here. I'm pretty sure your Mom and Dad miss you."

The kid looked up with a shining face. Oh boy...

"Mom?" He said. "My Mummy?"

"Yeah."

He immediately scrambled to his feet as Percy stood up, feeling slightly pleased that he was able to do his good deed for the day.

"I'm Percy. " He said.

The kid had a thoughtful look. "Are you a stranger? I can't tell strangers my name."

"Well, you've already talked to me. And I'm helping you get back to your parents. We don't actually know each other, but it's okay to make new friends, right?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. Most of my friends are my cousins. I gotta lotta cousins. You're not my cousin, but you can be my friend. I'm Jamie."

Percy grinned. "Nice to meet you, Jamie. I have a huge family too. But I'm still happy to make new friends."

Jamie smiled along with him and reached up to hold his hand. Percy tried not to swat it away. He didn't usually hold hands with people except for Annabeth and his mother. But the little boy did not have an ounce of a threat in him and it was probably natural for young children to hold someone's hand while walking down the road. Percy was just glad Jamie hadn't asked him to pick up him up.

"I have a big family too. " Jamie told him earnestly. He seemed purposeful of explaining his story to Percy.

" My Mummy has a lotta brothers and they have kids too, so they're all my cousins and I like them all especially Teddy. But Teddy is not from my Mummy's side. Teddy is my Daddy's Godson and he's so cool! Teddy's in the first year and I'm so jealous! You know what 'jealous' means? It means I wanna go but I'm too little, so I hasta wait but Teddy's eleven and he can go to school."

Percy looked down in surprise. "You go to school only when you're eleven?"

Jamie nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I wanna go now, but Daddy says I hafta grow up, but I'm a really big boy. I can jump ten steps!"

"Right..."

"Yeah. Lily's a baby so she'll go to school only after me, like Albie. I'll go first and then Albie and then Lily. My Mummy and Daddy already went a long long time ago. Did you go?"

Percy shrugged. "Well, yeah. I started school early. I was six years old, I think."

Jamie's eyes grew wide. Honestly, Percy wondered if it was some kind of homeschooling that this whole family was going through, but he didn't question it. The kid's accent was slightly weird. He was probably from another country which had slacking rules. School only from eleven? It sounded like a dream.

"Six?" Jamie cried. They passed by a little cafe shop and a few people gave Percy and Jamie curious looks. Some frowned at Jamie's less than clean state while others openly gawked at Percy. He automatically pulled the boy closer to him. It was very clear that the two looked nothing alike.

"Wow, I'm four and a half. I'll be five after New Year! It's pretty awesome. Uncle Ron said I was the best New Year's gift for the family when I was born. "

They crossed the road and went down an open set of stairs to the wide expanse of short, mown lawns of grass, in front of Central Park. It really was a bright, perfect day for a picnic.

There were several people loitering around, running about and relaxing under the sun and trees. Children laughed and played, teens chased each other, adults looked absolutely de-stressed. It seemed like how Percy would imagine Elysium to be.

"Jamie, can you spot your parents?" Percy leaned and watched Jamie scour over the crowd, his eyes frowning slightly.

"My Mummy has red red hair and my Daddy has glasses. He wears it on his nose."

Percy looked at the crowd hoping his mother had the kind of hair which would easily grab attention.

Suddenly, there was a tap on his back. His lower back. His _spot._

He jumped. He actually jumped, whipped Riptide out and swung it behind him, before he could even turn around completely.

Annabeth was standing behind him, at just the right distance so that she wouldn't have been sliced by his sword. She had neutral expression on her face, but her lips were upturned just a bit at his reaction.

Percy felt his own nervousness, when he stared at her. She had perfect curls, moving slightly with the breeze, her clothes were spotless. She had probably had a lucky day with no encounters with monsters, while he had been paired up with a lost boy.

"Hi Annabeth. Nice day, huh?"

Her amusement vanished. "I almost don't want to know what you're doing with this kid. Two weeks of separation, I'd thought you would be a bit happy to see me. Who's your new best friend?"

Jamie slowly went to stand behind Percy as he looked up at the fierce tall blond haired girl. She seemed scary.

Percy flushed and pocketed his sword/pen. Thankfully, no one was giving them any strange looks. "I found him."

Annabeth waited. Percy went red and continued, "He says he came here with his family but lost sight of them. I thought we might see them again if we came here to the park, but no luck yet."

She gave another piercing look. Her eyes flashed, but Percy didn't back down. He stared right back, silently challenging her to point out any faults, accuse him of wanting to ditch or dump her.

Then, Annabeth sighed. "Fine, I believe you. What's his name?"

Jamie immediately did his best to hide himself as much as he could, behind Percy's legs. He clutched the jeans and Percy tried not start. He was ticklish.

"His name is Jamie. James, I guess. His Mom has red hair, his Dad has glasses. He has a brother and a sister, both younger."

Annabeth nodded. She looked down at the boy and gave a small smile to reassure him. By the way Jamie was squeezing Percy's pants, it was clear that the kid was not reassured.

"You know, Jamie? You've got a little dirt on your cheek." She pointed. Jamie rubbed his face sloppily. Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out a plain handkerchief.

"May I?" She asked politely. Jamie stood still as she kneeled on the ground next to him to slowly rub the dirt off, cleaning his face and then dusting off his shirt and jeans.

Jamie sniffled a bit but seemed less wary of her once she was done.

"There!" She proclaimed. "Who's looking all smart and clean now?"

"Me?" Jamie guessed. Annabeth laughed shortly."Yes. I'm Annabeth."

Percy smiled. The scene was nothing short of sweet. "Let's find your parents. Jamie, where were you guys sitting?"

The three of them looked out at the grand lawn which had several families sprawled over the grass, enjoying the day, like Percy had expected.

"There." Jamie pointed at the edge of the park next to the footpath. It was vacant, though.

"They're searching for you. They might have gone to the police station." Annabeth reasoned.

Before Percy could say anything, Jamie chirped up, "Oh no. Daddy is like 'please-man' but he won't call muggles 'cause he's better at finding stuff!"

Percy and Annabeth stared down at him. "Please man? What's that? Police man? You're dad's a cop but not? Is he a detective?"

Annabeth was shaking her head. "No, I don't think so.. but it sounds strange. Jamie, what's a muggle?"

Jamie suddenly fell quiet. He stared at his sneakers before shrugging.

Percy gave a questioning look to his girlfriend, who frowned, deep in thought. The kid's words might have been ignored by anyone else, but Annabeth seemed to take it as a trigger for something he might have been hiding. Jamie turned away for a second and his whole demeanor changed.

"MUMMY!" He hollered, ripping his arm away from Percy's hold and dashing off across the park towards a small group of people, most of whom had a strange bright orange colored hair. One woman from the pack, broke away and ran towards Jamie, arms outstretched. He jumped and she caught him, both yelling unintelligibly. The group of red headed people converged around them looking infinitely relieved.

One black haired man was among them and he was almost squeezing the life out of Jamie and his mother. The man had glasses. On his nose, no less.

Percy whistled. "That was fast. They're a weird looking bunch huh, Annabeth?"

The couple watched the weird looking bunch as were demonstrating wild laughter and group hugs.

"How long was he lost for?" Annabeth murmured. Percy shrugged.

"A couple o' hours? Come on. There's Marty's Hotdog stand right around the corner. His mustard and ketchup combination's out of this world."

.


End file.
